A Mountain of Energy with Love Beets

"I'm obsessed: truly, single-mindedly, head-over-heels obsessed. With beets."

We teamed up with alpine athlete Katie Van Riper to chat high-energy snacks for high-energy sports, and we love what she had to say!

Beets have been blowing up in recent years; in my little world of Salt Lake City, UT, I can’t walk into one of my favorite restaurants without finding a beet dish on the menu (but this is of no complaint to me). My friends and family know if beets are on the menu, I’ll definitely be ordering them!

But it wasn’t always this way. Somehow, I dodged beets for about 23 years – my mother and I have different stories about how that happened, of course. I claim that she never served them; she claims I never tried them. Finally, during a cross-country move from Maine to Utah, I discovered the simple joy of beets and goat cheese at a roadside restaurant, and haven’t looked back since.

Now that I’m settled in that my new home, I spend most of my time walking and hiking amongst the Wasatch mountains, which is a sprawling range just outside Salt Like City. As a skier and lifelong alpine athlete, this environment is a space for me to connect with the outdoors, with myself, with adventure, and with my community – but you certainly need energy to tackle those inclines.

Enter: Love Beets Organic Cooked Beets. Like most athletes, I try to eat organically and healthfully. Like most humans, this can be a struggle – between social obligations, family time, work pressure, and holiday festivities, health and convenience don’t always come hand-in-hand. Luckily, companies like Love Beets put all natural snacks at my fingertips.

One of my go-to nutrient-dense portable treats are superfood oatmeal cookies. With limited sugar and “hidden” produce in every bite, these little guys pack a major nutritional punch. Here’s how I whip them up:

Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats
2 ripe bananas
1/2 mini dark chocolate chips
2 large Organic Cooked Beets, chopped
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/4 organic brown sugar

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Slice bananas over a large mixing bowl and press with a fork until a batter-like consistency is achieved. Fold in chopped beets and vanilla extract.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together oats, sugar, and chocolate chips.
  4. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the oats are uniformly coated in the banana/beet mixture.
  5. With clean hands, form the mixture into 1-inch in diameter balls and spread evenly on a greased baking sheet.
  6. Gently press the cookie dough balls down with the flat side of a spoon.
  7. Bake cookies for 15-20 minutes, or until golden (and a little purple, naturally).

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We’re totally inspired to give Katie’s superfood snacks a try – are you? We’d love to hear about it!